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Doctor’s appeal on FB brings generous donations to set up COVID treatment centre
One of the wards at the new intermediate treatment centre
With Covid-19 cases surging in many parts of the country, health officials are scrambling to find beds to accommodate the large number of patients who test positive on a daily basis. Rather than wait for the Government to come up with the funds and equipment necessary for such centres, many officials are using social media to reach out to members of the public who are willing and able to assist.
The new intermediate Covid-19 treatment centre at the Wellawaya National Youth Corp (NYC) premises
In Wellawaya in the Monaragala District, officials this week set up a new intermediate Covid-19 treatment centre at the Wellawaya National Youth Corp (NYC) premises.
The Wellawaya Divisional Secretary and other Government officials suggested the location to health authorities as the most feasible place, large enough to accommodate the increasing number of Covid-19 patients, said Dr Jagath Pushpakumara, Consultant Physician at the Wellawaya Base Hospital. “However, building such a care centre at a premises that is not a hospital is far more difficult than turning an existing hospital into a care centre for Covid-19 patients,” he pointed out.
To begin with, the NYC premises only had 90 beds and 60 mattresses. The Sri Lanka Army, however, stepped in quickly to completely clean the premises and to handle the supply of food for the patients, Dr Pushpakumara said. Officials however, still had to find mandatory items and medical equipment needed for such a centre. “We had to find everything from pulse oximeters used to measure oxygen saturation to staplers used for paperwork.”
Equipment purchased through funds provided by Lahiru and other donors
Given the urgency of the situation, Dr Pushpakumara put out an appeal on his personal Facebook page noting that donations were welcome to the new treatment centre. Within hours, through the help of two fellow doctors, he was introduced to Lahiru Gunathilake, a senior software engineer currently based at Google’s office in Sweden. Within 12 hours of the online meetup, Lahiru had provided the necessary funds to purchase most of the equipment needed for the care centre.
Other donors soon stepped in too, and by Friday, the necessary equipment had already been purchased and handed over to the hospital. Among the items purchased through donor funds were bedsheets, pulse oximeters, blood pressure monitors, nebulisers and other medical equipment. Donors also funded the purchase of a fridge and a washing machine for the treatment centre.
Thanks to the generous donations received following Dr Pushpakumara’s online appeal, the centre now has the necessary equipment to start functioning from early next week. It can initially accommodate 100 patients, but plans are underway to expand the centre with more beds if the requirement arises.
Dr Pushpakumara thanked all those who contributed, along with Wellawaya Divisional Secretary Chandana Ratnayake and other officials at the Divisional Secretariat, Dr Anuradha Ranadewa, Medical Superintendent – Wellawaya Base Hospital, the nursing and other staff at the Wellawaya Base Hospital, Regional Director of Health Services Dr A M T K Attanayake, and the Sri Lanka Army for their assistance.
Aside from Dr Pushpakumara, the new treatment centre will be supervised by Consultant Physician Dr Lalitha Gunaratne and Consultant Paediatrician Dr Sajith Sandamal.
While the centre will begin functioning next week, it will continue to need donor contributions to meet essential needs. As such, donations are still welcome, and anyone who wishes to contribute is advised to contact Dr Pushpakumara or the Wellawaya Base Hospital.